The Commission of Inquiry into State Capture is to appoint a task team to investigate Parliament for its failure to execute its oversight role to prevent the looting of tax payers’ money.
Commission Chair, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo says he wants to know why Parliament failed to assist various whistle blowers, especially senior officials from the Reserve Bank who had highlighted urgent cases that needed prosecuting for money laundering.
Zondo was responding to testimony from the Reserve Bank’s Head of Financial Surveillance department, Shiwa Mazibuko.
He told the State Capture Commission there are 64 cases pending of people who have contravened exchange control regulations that require action from law enforcement agencies.
Mazibuko said despite raising these the cases with Parliamentary Committees, nothing was done.
“If Parliament had played its oversight role, some of the challenges may have been dealt with early and so, it’s important to have a look, to see where there may have been failures on the part of parliament and portfolio committees and see what may need to be done in the future and what measures may need to be done, to make sure that if similar things come up in the future, parliament would stop some things from progressing too far,” says Judge Zondo.
